I believe in accepting yourself for who you are and what you are.

Everyone in this world struggles to understand themselves, especially when it comes to gender. There are so many confusing and even wrong ideas out there about what is right or wrong for a man or a woman. Starting when you’re first born, you’re supposed to wear a certain color beanie and blanket depending of what gender you are. Then, later in life, your choices about who and what you are always determined by your parents or legal guardian. This also goes for toys, clothes, hairstyles, and so on.

But in our early teens we start forming a need for independence. We wish to move away from our parents as soon as possible because we get tired of hearing their ideas about how we should live. Am I right? Most of you guys have thought about this when arguing with your parents. Maybe you just really want to leave home. I ain’t gonna lie; at some point I wanted to leave, I even told my mom I wanted to leave and I even called her “Bruja!”. Immediately, my mom took my backpack, threw everything out and packed my clothes and toothbrush. She leaned forward with a serious face and said, “If you want to leave, then leave, but once you pass through that door don’t dare to come back!” When I heard this, my heart dropped in that split second. I even burst into tears and quickly apologized for what I’ve said. That was the last time I ever disrespected my mom like that. So we see that it’s not easy to be fully independent of our parents.

My middle school years weren’t so great (and really, whose are?) I got bullied pretty much for everything, so much so that it even made me deny my own sexual orientation to feel a little acceptance.I was so scared that someone would jump me or even kill me.

The years passed, and high school hit me. Without a doubt, it was nerve wracking, and stressful for those first couple days or maybe even weeks. Mainly because that’s the beginning when I started to figure out my interests and what crowd to hang with. For me, it was also a fresh start, like pressing the reset button on a game.

I remember when I found my very first best friend in high school, one of the first to accept me for who I am. One day, during Algebra, she stepped through the door and sat right in front of me. I didn’t even notice her because I was so into what I was drawing on myself. When I looked up, I didn’t hesitate to say hi because something about her felt so different from other girls. That first impression lead to a whole conversation that class period. I actually felt comfortable talking to her about anything and I mean anything--- I even had a little crush on her! Later, when I came out to her, she was so glad and responded by saying, “Finally!”, sarcastically, but with a smile. I knew that others weren’t as approving as I had hoped, but, hey “Haters gotta hate” and you can only please the ones that accept you and care about you, like my friend did.
However, I began to realize that my new friend was not the only one to accept me as I am. Starting in my junior year the tables started to turn: instead of people being negative about the fact that I am gay, most people I knew were positive about it. Like my brother marvin, my mom, and close friends. I feel like the battle of acceptance I had been fighting my whole life had finally come to an end. Because “who’s going to love you, if you don’t love your dang self first? Can I get an Amen?”- RuPaul Andre Charles.